Tech Makes West Coast Trip for Spring Break

March 17, 2012

ATLANTA – In a scheduling departure from past springs, Georgia Tech will get taste of West Coast golf next week with a trip to California that includes a dual match with 4th-ranked UCLA and its first-ever appearance in the Barona Collegiate Cup.

The 10th-ranked Yellow Jackets will play UCLA in a match Sunday at Riviera Country Club, which will be the site of the NCAA Championship in late May/early June, and follow that with a practice round at Riviera on Monday. The Jackets and Bruins have faced each other twice this year in stroke play events – the United States Collegiate Championship in the fall (UCLA won, Tech 4th) and the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawai’i to kick off the spring schedule (Tech 4th, UCLA 5th).

Tech will be one of 16 teams in the 54-hole Barona Collegiate Cup, which will take place over two days on March 22-23 at the Barona Creek Golf Club in Lakeside, Calif. The event, 36 holes Thursday and 18 holes Friday, is hosted by 12th-ranked San Diego State and includes No. 11 Southern California, Arizona, CCSU Hawaii, Illinois, Loyola Marymount, North Texas, Northwestern, Pacific, Pepperdine, Utah and TCU.

“Due to the fact that there was not a NCAA preview this fall, we decided to change our trip out west from Las Vegas to Southern California,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “We’ll have a chance to play Riviera a couple of times and also play a tournament in San Diego to learn more about playing golf out West. We need to begin to play our best golf of the year as the end of the year approaches.

White, a senior from Acworth, Ga., is working on a streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes and has not finished out of the top 20 in any of his seven events this year, leading the Yellow Jackets with a 70.7 stroke average. Andrews has four top-10 finishes this year and a 72.1 stroke average, while Albertson has posted three top-10s and a 71.4 norm. The other three players range from 72.1 to 73.1 in stroke average and have combined for four top-10 finishes.